Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, also known as the Messiah, Yeshua, Joshua, and Jeshua, is a figure referenced multiple times in the Xenosaga series, eventually appearing in Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra. His relations to U-DO, the Zohar, Abel, Rennes-le-Château and Grimoire Verum are unknown. It can be inferred that Jesus was very wary and concerned about the dangers of the Zohar, given that he created a Zohar control program. Appearance In Xenosaga, he is interpreted as a tan-skinned Middle Eastern man with long dark hair, dark brown eyes, and some facial hair. Jesus and miracles According to Xenosaga Perfect Guide, Jesus was not a supernatural being, but a human being who had the rare ability to guide the hearts of many, including Mary Magdalene and chaos (Yeshua), who had the ability to produce miracles. In the era of ancient Lost Jerusalem, there existed a man who was called the "Messiah". Surrounding him, various plots unfolded, and events even to the extent of having sway on the very existence of the universe were produced. However, the Messiah himself was only just a human. Mary Magdalene, who was the partner of the Messiah and bearer of the power of Animus, and chaos/Yeshua, who was his closest friend and bearer of the power of Anima; the two of them performed various miracles. The Messiah, by himself, was not able to perform miracles. However, he supervised those who performed such miracles, and while utilizing those phenomena, he was adept at guiding the hearts of people. And such an existence is something that is difficult to replace by anyone. Biography Jesus was a man that lived on Lost Jerusalem about 6000 years before Xenosaga, where he was born 7-2 B.C. in Bethlehem to his mother Mary and adoptive father Joseph. He lived his years in having his followers, known as the Apostles, to teach others to save themselves by following his word. This included Yeshua (chaos), his partner Mary Magdalene, and Mary Magdalene's maiden, who would later reincarnated as Shion Uzuki. Yeshua (chaos) is Jesus' proxy, and was commanded by Jesus to leave behind and protect Lemegeton, which could be interpreted as the "Word of God", but is more of manifested energy communicated by words. Yeshua and Mary Magdalene are the actualizations in the real domain of the powers of Anima and Animus, which came from the Collective Unconscious which exists in the imaginary domain. They placed their bodies into the human world and worked as Jesus' disciples. Jesus's existence and his Apostles became a threat to Wilhelm's role to protect the Lower Domain, so Wilhelm sought to stop them from destroying the universe, contributing to Jesus's death. Jesus was put on put on trial, mocked, tortured and executed. Jesus' murder and death had severe consequences and repercussions, permanently dooming and cursing humanity from ascending to the Upper Domain. Abel's Ark, one of U-DO's two observational terminals (the other being Abel), appeared when Jesus died, presumably to destroy the world if Jesus sought vengeance. However, this never occurred because Jesus' role was to save humanity from death. Abel's Ark became supported by four pillars (in Xenogears, these four pillars of Deus are known as Metatron, Sandalphon, and Harut and Marut.) There is a belief that after his death, Jesus was resurrected from the dead. The gospels indicate that Jesus made a series of appearances to the disciples. It was then believed Jesus ascended into heaven. In the understanding of the universe according to Xenosaga, it is unknown what this entails, such as if Jesus went to the Collective Unconscious, if he went to the Imaginary Number Domain of the Lower Domain, or if Jesus went to the Upper Domain to be with U-DO. Legacy After his death, several of Jesus' followers banded together and spread his story and teachings to humanity across Earth, starting from the Middle East. Jesus became the central figure of Christianity, and later, a religious cult known as Ormus hellbent on universal domination, founded by Wilhelm himself. Eventually, Jesus' message and teachings became corrupted by Ormus, Wilhelm and the dark forces controlling and manipulating planet Earth: the darkness in humanity's hearts. Thousands of years later, this would lead to the creation of the Gnosis to exterminate and kill the entire human race, essentially beginning the events of Xenosaga. After Ormus and the Immigrant Fleet left Earth, it was re-named Lost Jerusalem. Wilhelm, as Cardinal Heinlein, convinced Ormus they could return to Lost Jerusalem if they collected the Relics of God such as the Zohar and returned them to their proper form. Ormus based on planet Abraxas, and also built an uncertain amount of churches for their religion; one can be seen on Pleroma, and Febronia took care of a church in the suburbs of Dasgupta, Miltia. Both churches were apparently abandoned, however. Words of Lemegeton Ormus existed before Jesus' death, and its original role was to look after the "words" Jesus past on. These "words" Jesus spoke were Lemegeton, a Zohar control program that was installed by God, which serves as a failsafe to lead the universe to dissipation. Lemegeton was made by Yeshua without knowing the threat it posed for the universe, and Wilhelm continued to watch over this program for 6000 years. Even Jesus was unaware that Lemegeton was a failsafe installed by God that could cause the universe to dissipate. From the Lemegeton that chaos "spoke", Jesus replaced it with some kind of words, and left it behind for future generations. The chanting of the words was something like a ritual, and there was meaning in the ritual itself; there was meaning in the wave itself that was emitted. There was no meaning in the words themselves that had been replaced in order to pronounce the wave. There may have been much degradation by reducing the waveform — which is not able to be naturally emitted — to the level of language. But even so, using the words, and linking to the Zohar, people came to be able to channel energy from the upper domain. At least, they had obtained that possibility. chaos thought that it would be helpful for the sake of man's happiness. That very reason is why he agreed for Lemegeton to be written down in books, passing it on to future generations, and he accepted the possibility that someone other than himself would come to be able to use it. However, chaos's wish did not come true, as evidenced by the history afterwards. Various books promoting the ideology of Jesus were left behind, but among them was one where Lemegeton had been written down. However, the books where such a sequence of information on the upper domain was described were instead not generally circulated because of their importance, and it became that they sunk into the darkness of history. In the more modern era of Lost Jerusalem, Lemegeton was found during T. Masuda's archeological excavation at Lake Turkana in Kenya, along with the Zohar. Grimoire Verum, former Chief of Vector Industries's Zohar Research Department at Toronto, Ontario, Canada, deciphered Lemegeton and wrote the Lemegeton program. Grimoire's identity and role is mysterious, leading some to theorize that he may be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ or one of Jesus's Apostles, similar to how Shion Uzuki is the reincarnation of the Maiden of Mary Magdalene. Using his Lemegeton program, Grimoire performed a link experiment with the Original Zohar, using his own daughter, Nephilim Verum, as a test subject. As a result, a matter shift was generated, and mankind had no choice but to escape from Earth. Although Grimoire had become an existence of the imaginary number domain, he had not been swallowed into the Collective Unconscious. Lemegeton would later be researched by Joachim Mizrahi. The U-TIC Organization, which is a front for Ormus, sought and researched Lemegeton with Mizrahi, all in hopes of using the Zohar control program to control the Zohar and use its power to spread Ormus around the galaxy, as well as to return to the holy land of Lost Jerusalem. Zarathustra Mary Magdalene created Zarathustra, along with those who worshiped her and Yeshua. It is possible that Jesus helped Mary Magdalene in Zarathustra's creation, but this is unconfirmed. They had created the relic to ascend to the realm of God, and Yeshua was to be the power source for the artifact. Unfortunately, things didn't go as they had hoped, for God did not permit mankind's action. Ultimately, Wilhelm was able to steal Zarathustra from Mary Magdalene and her followers, and he then installed the Eternal Recurrence into Zarathustra to save the universe from dissipation within an eternal circle. Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra In Episode III, on Michtam, MOMO Mizrahi finds a quote on the floor about Jesus from Matthew 28:5. It says: "And the angel answered and said unto the women, fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said." This is a continuation of Matthew 28:2, which is found in the Y-Data and Rennes-le-Château. Shion Uzuki has a vision of Jesus instructing Yeshua/chaos and Mary Magdalene on Lost Jerusalem when she visits Mary Magdalene's tomb Rennes-le-Château. It is explained in an official guidebook that these are Shion's memories of her past life. At the end of Episode III, Shion and her team, Mary Magdalene and Yeshua/chaos were able to put an end to Wilhelm and Zarathustra. Abel's Ark reconfigures into a shape resembling a cross, which appears to have a cleansing effect, wiping out the Gnosis surrounding Michtam, possibly symbolizing Jesus wiping out humanity's sins. The Gnosis and the wills of humanity returned to Lost Jerusalem, where Mary Magdalene's will also is. Shion, Jr. and Allen Ridgeley embark on a mission to find Lost Jerusalem. Trivia * The Original Zohar is called "Marienkind," which means "Child of Mary" in German. According to the Original Design Materials, this name represents Jesus. * In Episode I, while in KOS-MOS' Encephalon during the Encephalon dive at the Kukai Foundation, the song "Green Sleeves" plays, which uses the traditional English tune of the same name. This tune is notable for also being the tune for "What Child Is This?", a carol about the birth of Jesus. * In Episode I, also in KOS-MOS' Encephalon, Shion and her team find KOS-MOS crucified in Mary Magdalene's tomb (Rennes-le-Château), much like how Jesus was (supposedly) crucified. * In Episode I, Albedo Piazzolla quotes Jesus in John 12:24 when he says, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." This is said when he slices and decapitates his head with a knife in front of a horrified MOMO. * It is possible to play as Jesus in Episode III using a hack which replaces chaos with Jesus.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFf5Y2_-N8c * Wilhelm's mech Joshua may be named after Jesus, as Joshua is one way of translating Jesus' name. * In Xenogears, the group is crucified at Golgoda, a probable mistranslation of Golgotha, where Jesus was supposedly crucified. Gallery Vlcsnap-2011-04-19-16h41m15s202.png|Jesus at his sermon on the mount during Lost Jerusalem's era. Messiah2.png|Jesus at his sermon on the mount during Lost Jerusalem's era. JesusModel.png|Jesus. Jgame.png|Jesus on the Elsa spaceship. Category:Characters Category:Episode III characters Category:Male characters